BEYOND is an online commissioning strand, inaugurated in Spring 2020, during the first phase of lockdown from the coronavirus pandemic. Begun in response to an unprecedented moment, the scheme generated an overwhelming volume of applications – testimony to the energy, invention and resourcefulness of artists across the country. The first works selected look back at, and endeavour to move on from, this extraordinary time, addressing the isolation and interiority of lockdown and the solace of friendship, exploring the craving for connection and the prohibition of touch, while expanding their gaze from immediate, individual experience to consider both the lessons of history and a desire for societal change. Made with a self-sufficiency, fluency and finesse that have long distinguished artists’ practice, the works’ ambition goes well beyond the call, while their impact punches well beyond their size.

The seven projects commissioned will be released in stages during the autumn and winter of 2020, beginning with the first two pieces: by De’Anne Crooks and Chris Zhongtian Yuan  Further new works by Kondo Heller, Lou Macnamara and Kyla Harris, Cal Mac, Moyin Saka and Maryam Tafakory will follow over the coming weeks.